appear live , people . This weekend will see the first and only “ proper ” supermoon of 2017 , as the Moon reach its full stage at the same meter that it ’s closest to Earth .
The Moon will be whole full at10.47am EST(3.47pm GMT ) on Sunday , December 3 , and it will reach its closest level to Earth – know as perigee – the following day on Monday , December 4 . That will put it 357,492 kilometre ( 222,135 miles ) from Earth .
On the East Coast US , the full Moon will wax at about 4.59pm , so you should be able to spot it fairly ahead of time on when night falls as the Sun will congeal half an hr earlier . It wo n’t put again until 7.50am the following solar day , return you plentitude of time to keep it . It ’ll still look essentially full the nighttime before and after , too .
We ’ve technically hadthree other supermoonsthis year , but the others involved a new Moon ( when the Sun shines on the far side of the Moon ) rather than a full Moon . The “ unexampled Moon supermoons ” come in April , May , and June . This weekend , however , will be the first one that you’re able to really see .
If you do n’t get a chance to see it , you could watch online at theVirtual Telescope Project .
Supermoons are n’t usually as amazing as they ’re made out to be . The Moon is only slightly closer than normal , about 50,000 klick ( 31,000 miles ) , so it will only appear about 14 percentage bigger and 30 percentage brighter – barely obtrusive to the naked eye .
But it will still look pretty impressive , and if you spot it near the purview it will look specially heavy , thanks to anoptical illusion . Plus , the Moon ’s proximity to Earth during this phase think of that tides on Earth will be slightly enceinte than common .
Like buses or something , we ’re in reality in for a bit of a supermoon extravaganza . After the full Moon on December 3 , the full moons of January 2 and January 31 will technically be supermoons too . squeamish !
I ’ve definitely written the word “ Moon ” too many times now . Anyway , make certain you control out our lunar comrade on Sunday evening . It might not look that different than normal , but a full Moon by itself is still pretty cool . This one will just look somewhat more impressive .
